Max's Long Jaunt Home

Kolkata to London

2007

      It seems there has always been at least one foot-loose member of the family wandering about the globe.  This year, it is Max.  He and his friend George Vlasto are currently travelling from Kolkata (Calcutta) to London in a car designed in 1947. To avoid the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, their route takes them north through China then west through various Stans to Turkey.  In due course, for those not familiar with Asian geography (such as ourselves) we will add a map showing their progress along their planned route.

      So as not to repeat what has already been written about their adventures, please read Max's letter, information about the charities he and George are promoting, and newspaper articles about their trip - sent out by Raine to relatives and friends. 

      Raine has also kindly provided us with the pictures - we hope to have more to add as Max makes his way home. 

Another Far Side of the World - only farther this time!

To enlarge, click on picture.

  

George Vlasto and Max Bz.

Mt. Rakaposhi (7,600 mts.)
Max: Getting Lost

Karakoram Highway

The car, an Ambassador made by the Hindustan Motor

Co. in Calcutta, was first produced in 1947 as the

Morris Oxford Series III.
Some new friends.

THE DRIVE HOME 2007

London – Calcutta

Max Benitz and George Vlasto

    As you may know, I have been living and studying in Calcutta for the last year with a good friend named George Vlasto. In this time we’ve been planning a unique scheme to raise money for two charities and at the same time to attempt an unusually challenging journey home. After months of planning and having confronted endless bureaucratic and practical hurdles, we are finally ready to leave and plan to drive from Calcutta to London across some of the most remote, untouched and beautiful terrain on earth in a Hindustan Motors Ambassador car.

    Although the purpose of the drive is to raise funds for the two UK registered and internationally renowned charities mentioned below, we would like to emphasize that this letter is not aimed at raising sponsorship money as our trip has been fully funded already.   Thus, should you choose to support either of these charities through our trip, then that is exactly what you will be doing:  100% of all donations will go directly to the charities.

    We will be raising money for the Professor Ian Smith Research Fund at the Royal Marsden Cancer Research Hospital in London and for Future Hope in Calcutta.

    The Royal Marsden is a research and treatment institution that has consistently led the fight against cancer in the UK. It has come to represent the ongoing struggle but especially the continuing achievement and hope in cancer treatment and has touched a huge number of lives. All donations will go to the central Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign and will then be distributed to Professor Smith. Enclosed is a letter from Professor Smith about his unit’s work.

    Future Hope is a Calcutta based charity that works with the very poorest and most vulnerable people in the city – its homeless children. The life facing the thousands of Calcutta street children is one of drug-abuse, crime and inescapable destitution. Future Hope provides housing and a loving environment for these desperate children. In the long-term the children in Future Hope can look forward to a decent education, access to sports and extra-curricular activities of a high standard and a social environment that promotes independence and self-esteem. The charity provides opportunities that would be otherwise inconceivable for the children. In 2007 the charity aims to get more young girls through their school and raise enough money to take these thoroughly urban children on a trek in the Himalayas. Enclosed is some more information on this fantastic charity.

   All in all we will be travelling through 17 countries and covering over 15,000 kilometres. We will cross 3 mountain ranges, 2 deserts and 3 seas in our Ambassador, which has the same unchanged design as the 1947 Morris Oxford. It will be a truly astonishing journey and we hope that you will support one or both of our chosen charities in any way that you can. If you have any questions or concerns about our trip and fundraising please do not hesitate to contact me either by phone or email as detailed below.

Here is how to donate:

?         If you are willing to transfer money via the internet we have set up two WebPages on www.justgiving.com Once a small processing fee has been deducted by the site itself, all monies donated on this site go direct to the charities. Both The Royal Marsden and Future Hope recommend and trust this site.

Our pages are:

www.justgiving.com/royalmarsdendrivehome

www.justgiving.com/futurehopedrivehome

    As we make our way across Asia and Europe, we’ll be sending email and photo updates of our progress as much as possible.

     Please remember to use Gift Aid if you are a British Taxpayer.

     As we wish to thank all donors personally, it would be greatly appreciated if you would remember to write ‘Drive Home 2007’ on the back of any cheques you choose to send. This way we can keep you updated on our progress and let you know how the money you have donated has made a difference.

     Thank you for reading this letter and I hope that you choose to support these charities.

 Click on the names of the Charities for more about the trip...

You can also read about their travels and help them with donations to the charities in whose name they are undertaking this journey:

Future Hope

Gives underprivileged children in Calcutta the support and opportunities needed to help get themselves off the streets.  Max writes: "We have seen first hand how Future Hope really make a difference to the lives of the most deprived children on Calcutta's streets. We have personally met many of the children and some of those who have left to pursue good jobs or even university degrees which would have been unthinkable without Future Hope." 

Future Hope (United Kingdom), Box 276, 61, Victoria Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4JX

www.futurehope.net 

Charity No. 1001769

The Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign

At the Royal Marsden, we're not afraid of cancer. We learn about it, talk about and most of all, use cutting-edge techniques to treat it. We're doing everything we can to help improve our patients' survival rates - whether it's new drug therapies, or better equipment or facilities. But researching and treating cancer is a lifetime's work.

RESEARCH INTO THE TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF BREAST CANCER

Prof. Ian Smith Cancer Research Fund, Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JJ

www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk

Charity No. 1095197

Over the last 10 years the number of people dying of breast cancer in the UK has been falling steadily. This progress has been made through painstaking clinical research, leading to earlier diagnosis and better treatments.  

The Breast Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital is the largest of its kind in the UK. Our aim is to provide the best and most up-to-date treatments.  In addition, we have a major research programme studying better forms of therapy for breast cancer and its prevention. This is carried out by our doctors and nurses working as a team with scientists in our associated Institute of Cancer Research. Our current research includes the following:

·        Preoperative (Neoadjuvant ) Medical Therapy

Traditionally surgery is given first in breast cancer, with medical treatment afterwards (adjuvant therapy).   At the Royal Marsden we have been pioneering a new approach in which medical treatment is given before surgery in patients with larger tumours.  This approach usually causes the cancer to shrink or disappear completely so that  subsequent surgery can be minimised and the need for mastectomy reduced.  Also, the degree of tumour shrinkage tells us whether the drugs selected are working,  or whether a change of treatment might be needed.  For the first time we can also study the biological changes taking place in the cancer during therapy, and we hope this will give us clues about designing more effective therapy.

·        Targeted Therapy

Not all breast cancers are the same. We are moving into an era when we can test the biological features of individual cancers, to allow us to select the most appropriate treatment for the individual patient.  New drugs have already been developed based on this approach, and we anticipate that targeted therapy will become increasingly important in the next few years.

·        New Drugs

Despite the recent improvements in the treatment of breast cancer described above, there is still a long way to go. New and more effective drugs offer the best hope of further progress. The Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research represent the largest centre in the country for the development and evaluation of new and more effective drugs and this is a major part of our research programme. 

·        Breast Cancer Prevention

We are one of the leading centres in the world for breast cancer prevention. We carried out the first trial in the world of tamoxifen, an oestrogen-blocking drug, as a preventative agent. Results from our trial and others have already shown that this can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.  We are now involved in studying newer agents which we hope might be more effective than tamoxifen.  In addition we are trying to identify which women are most at risk of breast cancer and therefore most suitable to receive prevention therapies.

All this work is inevitably very expensive, particularly in the employment of the best doctors, scientists and research nurses.  This is why your help is so valuable to us.

Professor Ian E Smith and Dr Stephen Johnston

 Click on the titles to the following articles for additional photos and detail:

The Telegraph (Calcutta, India): A Drive to London

Max and George's adventurous travel plans for the next 2-3 months were first reported by Patrick Pringle in The Telegraph (of Calcutta, India).  In it he writes:

The owners [of the Ambassador car] will be Max Benitz and George Vlasto, students of Edinburgh University who have spent the past nine months studying at Calcutta University. They have decided to undertake a journey across 17 countries, three mountain ranges, two deserts and three seas in the car. The trip will take them from the city to London, through Pakistan, China, central Asia and Europe. They will start early on Thursday [June 7] and cover at least 15,000 km before reaching London in August.

The Daily Telegraph: The Long Road Home

According to Max: "Peter Foster, The Daily Telegraph's man in New Delhi, has taken a shine to our project and from time to time will be following our progress through the summer on his excellent blog on all things South Asian."  Excerpts from Peter Foster's article:

"Already the 1,000 mile journey from Kolkata to Delhi has already thrown up a few quirks in the automobile.

The boot no longer closes after one pothole two many in Bihar, the rear off-side passenger door has a habit of popping open of its own accord when traveling at speed and the steering wheel seems to have a rather lax relationship with the wheels themselves.

More worrying is the gear box which has a habit of popping out in third if you try and change down too aggressively when overtaking lorries. "It's a strange sensation," reports George, "one minute you're zooming along and then suddenly the engine is revving a million miles an hour in neutral and you're not going anywhere..."

All that said, Max and George, are clearly developing an attachment to their automobile which, as the many thousands still plying the Indian road so eloquently testify, is a resilient old soul."

The Statesman:

KOLKATA, June 4: Driving 15,000km overland from Kolkata to London - a journey that involves negotiating 17 countries, three mountain ranges, two deserts and three seas - is an adventure by any standards. But when British students George Vlasto and Max Benitz set off on their epic trip home on Thursday [7 June'07] they will be ratcheting up the sense of the unknown, the unexpected, and perhaps even the absurd, by doing it in an Ambassador.

The two students, both from the UK, are doing the drive for charity, hoping to raise thousands of pounds (and lakhs of rupees) for Kolkata-based NGO Future Hope, which provides homes and education for street children, and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

It's thought to be the first time anyone has attempted this route in the iconic Hindustan Motors car, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The boys hope a car that has survived virtually unchanged on the Indian roads for five decades will get them home over the course of 75 days – though they admit to approaching the trip with some trepidation.

The original idea of driving in a sturdier Land Rover went out the window when Max fell in love with the classic curves of the Amby after moving to Kolkata last September.

George and Max, both 22, have spent the last ten months in the city studying Indian history and culture at Calcutta University as part of a one-year exchange programme with Edinburgh University where they are undergraduates.

Part of the reason for choosing the route, which will take them through India, Pakistan, China, Central Asia and Europe, was historical interest. 

"We will be driving through places such as Samarkand, Bokhara and Kashgar in Central Asia that were part of the Great Game, a strategic conflict between the Russian and British Empires in the 19 th century," says George.

Max admits: "We're probably most scared about road accidents. Or the car breaking down in the middle of no where."

"It won't be easy," he adds. "But then life never is," quips George.

The pair has been getting used to the car over the last week, including doing a mechanics course so they know how to repair it.

"It's a bit heavy on corners," George reflects. "Actually it's a bit heavy on the straight too. I was rather apprehensive when I first saw our car. But I fixed the indicator yesterday by hitting it, so perhaps that's a good thing that it's easily repaired."

George came up with the idea to drive back from India. Once they arrived in Kolkata and got in touch with Future Hope they decided to make it into a charity fund raising trip.

"Future Hope takes children from the street where they face a life of drug-abuse, crime and inescapable poverty and provides them with housing, education and a loving environment," says George. "We have both worked with many of the children and have met some who have left Future Hope to go into good jobs or even university - achievements that would have been unthinkable without the charity."

The second charity is the Royal Marsden hospital in London, in particular a section that treats patients with breast cancer.

"Both of us have people very close to us who have been treated in the Royal Marsden," explains Max, "so it is especially meaningful to us. One hundred per cent of the donations will go to the charities as we have funded the trip separately."

They have already had to negotiate the notoriously difficult and often winding roads of Indian bureaucracy to get the required permits and permission, including having their bright white Ambassador driven over from Maharashtra as the Hindustan Motors factory in West Bengal was on strike for two months. Mr Sanjay Patodia of Austin Distributors on Chowringhee who found the car for them, says of the duo: "They're crazy, totally crazy. But it's a wonderful idea."

Tim Grandage, who runs Future Hope, said: "I think it's fantastic. It shows great initiative and I think it's brilliant that young people want to raise money for charities in a world where so many young people are materialistic. It will be a great challenge but also great fun. I envy them."

To donate to either or both of the charities log on to either: [please see web addresses above]